Scottish Executive

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many places are available annually on programmes for (a) drug and (b) alcohol rehabilitation.

Dr Richard Simpson: The information requested is not held centrally. However, Drug and Alcohol Action Teams should have some information about service provision at a local level, which would be helpful.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for a place on (a) drug and (b) alcohol rehabilitation programmes in each NHS board.

Dr Richard Simpson: I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-27544 and S1W-27545 on 8 August 2002, which indicate that waiting time information for treatment for drug and alcohol problems is not held consistently by NHS trusts or boards. We are reviewing the data system, but will wish to balance the benefits of data collection with the effort required by those involved.

  However, information obtained from Drug Action Team (DAT) Corporate Action Plans on the maximum waiting times for individual care and treatment agencies in each DAT area in 2001-02 is now available on the national drugs website at http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/dat/cap.htm.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Environment

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessments have been made of the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes currently operating in Scotland, with particular reference to the Environmentally Sensitive Areas schemes; which bodies have carried out any such assessments, and when they were commissioned to carry out any such work.

Ross Finnie: Following a competitive tendering exercise, a 10-year contract to monitor the effectiveness of the Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes in Scotland was awarded in September 1994 to a consortium headed by the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute. The other members of the consortium are the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (formerly the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology), Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland and AOC Scotland Limited.

  A separate study to assess the socio-economic and agricultural impacts of the Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes was commissioned in September 1997. The study was carried out by the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute with Bell-Ingram Rural and the University of Aberdeen.

Flooding

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1F-613 by Henry McLeish on 2 November 2000, what guidelines and requirements have been drafted and/or brought into force as a result of the research that it commissioned to consider the impact of climate change on the frequency of flooding and measures to guard against flooding.

Allan Wilson: A copy of the report Climate Change: Review of Levels of Protection Offered by Flood Prevention Schemes was issued to each local authority in Scotland in May 2001. The report recommended that all new schemes should allow for future climate change and that this should be considered on a site by site basis so that the allowance for climate change impacts could be achieved cost effectively. In line with this recommendation the Executive requires councils take account of these predicted climate change impacts over the life of new schemes.

Flooding

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what grants it has allocated since 1999 to local authorities that have submitted flood prevention schemes under the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961, broken down by local authority.

Allan Wilson: The costs of construction of confirmed flood prevention schemes are eligible for grant at the rate of 50%.

  The following grant payments have been made to local authorities since 1999:

  
 Year Local 
authority Grant paid (£)
 1999 HighlandPerth 
and Kinross 23,577.613,565,408.52
 2000
Perth and Kinross 2,523,960.34
 2001 Perth 
and KinrossFifeRenfrewshireEast Dunbartonshire
1,551,180.1928.523.24501,966.28 
980,443.75  2002
FifeEast DunbartonshireRenfrewshireInverclydePerth 
and KinrossEast Renfrewshire 50,115.911,784,141.031,084,229.60100,396.04313,855.49 
998.306.00

Flooding

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how long it has taken to approve each flood prevention scheme submitted to it by each local authority, giving details of each individual submission, since 1997.

Allan Wilson: The Executive has frequent contact with local authorities during the preparation of their flood prevention proposals. Once all the necessary information has been provided by the local authorities the Scottish ministers have taken, on average, five weeks to confirm schemes. Details of the time taken by the Scottish ministers to confirm each scheme, since 1997, is shown in the table.

  
 Local Authority
Scheme Name Time 
Taken  Perth and Kinross 
 Perth 
1 week  Bridge 
of Earn  7 weeks
 Weem Village 
4 weeks  Lower 
City Mills, Perth  3 weeks
 Fife
Auchtermuchty  4 weeks
 Dunshalt 
6 weeks 
Renfrewshire Moredun Playing Fields 
3 weeks  Collier 
Street  5 weeks 
River Gryfe, Crosslee  9 
weeks  East Dunbartonshire
River Kelvin  10 weeks
 River Kelvin (Glazertbank, Lennoxtown)
4 weeks  Inverclyde
Earnhill Road, Gourock  2 
weeks  Aberdeen City
Fraser Road, Aberdeen  3 
weeks  Aberdeenshire
Over Burn Culvert, Inverurie  5 
weeks  East Ayrshire
Kilmarnock  3 weeks

Flooding

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have failed to meet timeously the requirement to publish a biennial report on flood prevention or flood mitigation on non-agricultural land as required under the Flood Prevention and Land Drainage (Scotland) Act 1997.

Allan Wilson: All local authorities published biennial reports for the period up to November 2001. These reports were due to be published by 26 November. However, the following local authorities did not forward copies to the Executive by the end of December 2001 but have subsequently done so.

  Aberdeen City

  Borders

  Dundee City

  East Lothian

  Fife

  Moray

  Perth and Kinross

  Renfrewshire

  Shetland Islands

  Stirling

  Western Isles

Flooding

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of damage caused by river flooding has been in each year since 1997 and what estimate has been made of the average yearly cost over the next 10 years.

Allan Wilson: The information requested is not gathered centrally by the Executive.

  Research undertaken by Dundee University for the Executive suggests that average annual damage attributable to inland flooding is conservatively estimated at £20 million.

Flooding

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it uses to define an area as being at high risk of regular flooding.

Allan Wilson: A 1% annual risk is a widely accepted criterion in relation to flood risk and is the figure used by the Executive to define areas at risk. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency hold indicative flood risk maps for Scotland, which indicate those areas at a 1% annual risk of flooding or greater.

Flooding

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses are currently at risk from inland or coastal flooding.

Allan Wilson: Research commissioned by the Executive found that approximately 77,000 properties could be at risk from inland flooding (based upon a one in 100 year flood event, i.e. a 1% annual risk of flooding). In addition, about 93,000 properties in Scotland were identified as lying below the five-metre contour level: a proportion of these will be at risk of coastal flooding, especially when future climate change impacts are taken into account. Further work is planned to firm up on these figures.

Flooding

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11310 by Mr Sam Galbraith on 30 November 2000, how many applications for flood prevention and coast protection schemes have been (a) approved and (b) rejected, broken down by name of applicant, nature of project and amount sought and, where applicable, awarded; whether it will give a progress report on each successful application, detailing the likely completion date for the project, and what the reasons were for any applications being rejected.

Allan Wilson: Further to the additional funding announced by Mr Galbraith, in the answer given to question S1W-11310, I can confirm that all applications for the additional funds referred to have been met in full. No requests have been declined. Additional funding has been provided for the following schemes:

   
Scheme Year
 2001-02(£ 
million) 2002-03(£ 
million) 2003-04(£ 
million)  River Kelvin FPS
5.25 4.25 
 Johnston FPS
1.00  
 Wemyss Villages CPS
2.25  
 Crosslee FPS 
1.50  
Linlithgow FPS 
0.20 0.90
 Total 8.5
5.95* 0.90*


  Note:

  *Part-year totals only.

  The balance of the additional funding for years 2002-03 and 2003-04 remains to be allocated.

  All the schemes are complete or virtually complete, with the exception of the Linlithgow Flood Prevention Scheme which is planned to commence construction in 2003.

Historic Scotland

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which buildings were awarded grants by Historic Scotland that were conditional on match-funding by a local authority in each year since 1998-99.

Dr Elaine Murray: I have asked Graeme Munro, Chief Executive of Historic Scotland, to reply. His response is as follows.

  Under the powers available to Scottish ministers to make grants available for the repair of historic buildings and buildings within outstanding conservation areas, the only grants made that are conditional on match-funding by a local authority are those made under the Town Scheme arrangements. Under these arrangements, the local authority and Historic Scotland agree to fund in equal shares fixed grants to owners of 50% of eligible costs normally subject to a maximum grant of £6,000. Historic Scotland currently has agreements with 16 local authorities for 22 Town Schemes and has allocated £418,500 for this purpose in 2002-03. Individual awards of grant are made by the local authorities who hold a record of the properties that have received grant.

Historic Scotland

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria a private developer has to meet before, during and after receiving a grant for a historic building from Historic Scotland.

Dr Elaine Murray: I have asked Graeme Munro, Chief Executive of Historic Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

  Historic Scotland operates its historic building repair grant scheme on the basis of establishing whether there is a need for support from the public purse and, if so, of providing the minimum level of grant support towards eligible costs that is necessary for a project to be completed successfully. Where the grant applicant is a private developer we also take account of the rate of return that a project is expected to achieve. The UK Treasury provides guidance to all government departments on acceptable rates of return where public monies are involved.

  During the implementation of projects all applicants are expected to comply with all relevant conditions of grant in order to receive staged payments of grant.

  After a project undertaken by a private developer is completed, a financial re-appraisal is carried out to ensure that the rate of return achieved was in accordance with that projected. If not, the level of grant can be adjusted. Certain conditions of grant concerning future public access, maintenance and insurance remain for the developer to comply with for a set period.

Prison Service

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assessment has been made of the responses given by Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service in answers to written parliamentary questions, in particular of whether such responses address the specific questions posed.

Mr Jim Wallace: I am satisfied that the responses are fully in accordance with the Scottish Executive Guidance on Parliamentary Questions . The Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) responds to parliamentary questions about operational and contractual matters because they are his specific responsibility under the agency’s framework document. This approach applies to all executive agencies of the Scottish Executive and is in accordance with paragraphs 58-59 of the Scottish Executive’s Guidance on Parliamentary Questions , a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 24377). There were 623 questions answered by the Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service in the 12 months to 12 November 2002, an increase of almost four-fold on the previous 12 months. This delayed the average response time but the backlog has now been cleared. In accordance with the Scottish Executive Guidance, all of those answers sought to provide the information requested whenever this was available and where provision of that information was consistent with the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information .

  Ministers are ultimately accountable for executive agencies such as the SPS. I consider that through the agency framework documents, ministers take proper responsibility for agencies. If there is information that the member wants and considers has not been provided, I suggest she contacts the Chief Executive who will be pleased to assist her.

Prison Service

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for ensuring that people sent to prison are properly advised about their housing position and, in particular, about whether they should cancel their tenancy in order to avoid accumulating debts from unpaid rent.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  Assessments are carried out by the SPS reception and induction staff in conjunction with social work staff and voluntary sector workers. Aspects of housing and accommodation are discussed at this stage.

  All SPS establishments which release prisoners into the community have the services of specialists who are funded through the Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI). The aim of these RSI projects in prisons is to provide a housing casework service to all categories of offenders who will be homeless or threatened with homelessness on release and to ensure that support is in place prior to liberation. These projects are currently being evaluated by the Executive.

Prison Service

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to establish in other prisons centres based on the Throughcare Centre pilot at HM Prison Edinburgh.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  Dr Jackie Tombs is conducting an evaluation research study for SPS into the Throughcare Centre in HM Prison Edinburgh. We will consider whether the approach might be extended to other prisons in the light of the study and of the budgetary position.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29424 by Mr Jim Wallace on 8 November 2002, when it expects to conclude discussions with the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire councils with regard to the publication of its contracts with them for the provision of social work services in prisons and when it intends to place copies of the contracts in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29424 by Mr Jim Wallace on 8 November 2002, why the contracts for the provision of social work services in prisons with the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire councils have not yet been published.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  We are currently in discussions with Medacs Health care about publication of our contract for medical services. Once that is concluded we will commence discussions with the relevant local authorities with regard to publication of contracts for the provision of social work services in prisons. There is no contract with Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29424 by Mr Jim Wallace on 8 November 2002 and with regard to the publication of its contracts with the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire councils for the provision of social work services in prisons, whether the Scottish Prison Service has raised, or intends to raise commercial confidentiality in discussions with contractors as a ground for not publishing part or parts of the contract.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  Yes. The published content of such contracts is governed by the Scottish Executive guidance in Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information. The SPS has in the public interest a duty to ensure that disclosure does not harm the public interest or prejudice the commercial positions of itself or the contractor.

Prison Service

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31088 by Mr Jim Wallace on 8 November 2002, whether it will show the performance points accrued by the operating company of HM Prison Kilmarnock, broken down for each section in Schedule F to the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock other than sections 2.1(i), 2.2(a), 2.2(b), 2.4(a), 2.4(b), 2.4(c), 2.4(d) and 2.4(e), for each quarter of operation of the contract to date.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The information requested is given in the document (Bib. number 25002) a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Public Bodies

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is its policy that bills must be paid to businesses by public bodies within 30 days.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Public Finance Manual , which defines the procurement policy for the Scottish Executive including its agencies and associated departments, requires that invoices are paid promptly, within 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice, unless otherwise contractually agreed. The Scottish Executive also observes both the CBI Prompt Payment code and British Standard 7890, which set out good payment practice.

Special Educational Needs

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the assessment process, sources of advice to be sought and contents and involvement of parents and/or young people will be under the co-ordinated support plans, as referred to in Improving our Schools – Assessing our children’s educational needs – The Way Forward? .

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will produce a proposed staged intervention process and distribute it for consultation to parents, young people and professionals, as referred to in Improving our Schools – Assessing our children’s educational needs – The Way Forward? .

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will produce timescales for completing staged assessments and planning processes and distribute them for consultation to parents, young people and professionals, seeking views on whether the timescales should be laid down in law or guidance, as referred to in Improving our Schools – Assessing our children’s educational needs – The Way Forward? .

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the criteria are for children to be entitled to future needs assessment and post-school planning, as referred to in Improving our Schools – Assessing our children’s educational needs – The Way Forward? .

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will define "unreasonable" in relation to a local authority refusing to carry out a formal assessment of a child’s needs, as referred to in Improving our Schools – Assessing our children’s educational needs – The Way Forward? .

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what type of appeals the independent tribunal service will hear, as referred to in Improving our Schools – Assessing our children’s educational needs – The Way Forward? and whether parents and/or young people will be afforded legal aid in order to be represented at such tribunals.

Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30910 on 19 November 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

   http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.